1973: David Cassidy chums it up with a young park patron and Square Bear, a costumed Hanna-Barbera cartoon character, during the filming of the special “Partridge Family” show at Kings Island.
John Kiesewetter reports:
Before the “Brady Bunch” came in 1973, TV’s “Partridge Family” filmed an episode at Kings Island in 1972, the year the park opened, called “I Left My Heart in Cincinnati.”
And you can see it at 10:30 a.m. Monday (March 18) on Antenna TV. (Not sure where or how to get Antenna TV, but I’m confident a reader will post the info in a Facebook message with this post.)
Shirley Jones, David Cassidy, Susan Dey, Danny Bonaduce, Alan Bursky and the gang — plus Johnny Bench! — will be seen all over the park. The Partridge cast ride the blue Racer, Grand Carousel merry-go-round, Monster (Octopus), Linus’ Beetle Bugs, Rivertown flume ride and the old antique cars.
You’ll see the Skyride several times, young female KI employees wearing those funky yellow-and-orange caped uniforms, and the Partridge gang dancing on International Street with the Banana Splits characters!
“I Left My Heart in Cincinnati” refers to Keith (David Cassidy) falling in love with an older woman – park PR person Audrey Parson played by Mary Ann Mobely — while doing concerts at KI. Don Helbig, the real KI PR guy, tells me that Bench’s appearance as a waiter(!) on “the “Partridge Family” was his second TV acting gig, after his debut on “Mission: Impossible.”
Helbig says Kings Island used the “Partridge Family” theme song as a tie-in for the park’s grand opening slogan, “C’mon Get Happy.”
See a 4-minute clip on YouTube here. It’s not the best, and repeats a lot, but still fun to watch. Enjoy!
Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Kings Island |
